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PRAYER 


IN 


Relation  to  Missions 


Rev.  W.  L.  Ferguson 
Madra*.  India 


LAYMEN'S  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 
1  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 


NOVEMBER  191  » 


Prayer  is  the  -first  and  chief  method  of  help¬ 
ing  to  solve  the  missionary  problem.  Among 
all  the  methods  that  have  ever  been  proposed, 
none  is  more  practical  or  more  fruitful  than 
this.  Will  not  every  reader  of  this  pamphlet 
help  in  the  effort  to  get  a  definite  group  of 
people  at  home  into  the  habit  of  supporting  by 
daily  prayer  each  missionary  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight ?  By  this  simple  method  alone,  the  effi¬ 
ciency  of  the  present  missionary  force  could 
probably  be  doubled  without  adding  a  single 
new  zvorker. — J.  Campbell  White. 

“And  He  spake  a  parable  unto  them,  to  the 
end  that  men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to 
faint.”  (Luke  18:1.) 


ONE  comes  to  a  discussion  of  the  topic 
of  prayer  with  a  conscious  and  very 
genuine  shrinking,  with  a  half- 
formed  desire  not  to  speak  at  all ;  for 
prayer  is  like  some  delicate  flower  whose 
loveliness,  fragrance  and  form  charm 
and  exhilirate  the  beholder,  but  whose 
beauty  is  shed  immediately  the  hand  is  laid 
upon  it.  Moreover,  one  hesitates  to  speak 
on  a  subject  which  is  so  intimate  and  person¬ 
al  as  the  soul’s  relation  to  God,  lest  the 
critical  spirit  should  be  aroused  in  someone 


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who  hears  and  one’s  message  should  thus 
became  of  none  effect — lest  harm  and  not 
good  should  be  done.  Nevertheless,  the 
subject  “ Prayer  in  Relation  to  Missions” 
ought  to  be  discussed,  not  as  a  theory,  but  as 
a  fact.  There  is  abundant  testimony  regard¬ 
ing  the  intimate  connection  between  prayer 
and  the  extension  of  the  boundaries  on  the- 
Christian  frontier.  We  get  no  further  and 
move  no  faster  than  we  pray.  Christ  has 
said,  “Ask  and  ye  shall  receive.”  His  pro¬ 
mise  holds  for  the  individual,  the  family, 
the  church,  the  mission  society  who  will 
comply  with  the  condition,  namely,  to  ask. 
We  receive  not  because  we  ask  not,  and  we 
ask  amiss  and  receive  not.  We  receive  little 
because  we  ask  little.  We  need  a  world¬ 
wide  outlook  and  a  challenging  faith — a 
faith  which  will  credit  God  with  all  the  re¬ 
sources  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  with  a  de¬ 
sire  to  use  them  for  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom  of  his  Son. 

Christ  never  theorized  about  prayer.  It 
was  a  great  fact  in  his  life  and  work,  as  it 
was  also  in  the  life  and  work  of  Paul  and 
of  the  other  Apostles.  In  every  great  cri¬ 
sis  of  his  ministry  the  Master  is  found  pray¬ 
ing.  In  the  very  beginning,  at  his  baptism, 
as  he  prayed  the  heavens  were  opened  and 


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the  Holy  Spirit  descended  upon  him  like 
a  dove.  Before  choosing  his  twelve  dis¬ 
ciples  he  spent  the  whole  night  in  prayer; 
and  it  was  while  he  was  praying  that  the 
fashion  of  his  countenance  was  altered  and 
his  raiment  became  white  and  dazzling  in 
the  transfiguration.  And  in  Gethsemane, 
being  in  an  agony,  he  prayed,  his  sweat  as 
great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  upon  the 
ground.  His  prayers  range  all  the  way 
from  simple  thanksgiving  through  adoration 
to  petition,  supplication  and  intercession, 
finally  culminating  on  the  cross  with  the 
marvelous  words,  “Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do.”  “The 
servant  is  not  greater  than  his  master,  nor 
the  disciple  than  his  Lord.”  If  it  was  neces¬ 
sary  for  him,  while  in  the  flesh,  thus  to 
pray  regarding  the  establishment,  direction 
and  perpetuation  of  his  work,  how  much 
more  necessary  for  those  who  go  forth  in 
his  name  thus  to  do.  The  missionary  needs 
the  enduement  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  be  so 
filled  and  energized  with  the  all-mightiness 
of  Christ  that  mistakes  in  founding  Christ- 
tianity  in  mission  lands  shall  not  be  made. 
Disciples  won  from  heathen  darkness  must 
be  received,  baptized  and  built  up.  From 
among  these,  evangelists,  teachers  and  pas- 


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tors  must  be  developed,  trained  and  sent  forth 
to  the  work.  Without  prayer  for  wisdom 
and  direction  what  mistakes  are  possible  in 
this  respect!  Furthermore,  there  should  be 
times  of  transfiguration  in  the  life  of  the 
messenger  of  the  Cross.  The  fashion  of 
his  countenance  should  be  so  changed,  both 
in  the  presence  of  his  disciples  and  non¬ 
disciples,  that  all  will  know  that  he  is  a  man 
of  God  charged  with  a  great  message,  im¬ 
pelled  by  a  new  spirit,  different  from  other 
men.  How  can  a  missionary  be  all  this  un¬ 
less  he  is  aided  by  a  force  greater  than  he 
finds  within  himself?  Here  is  a  challenge 
to  the  men  and  women  in  the  churches  of 
the  home  land  that  they  pray  for  their  mis¬ 
sionaries  without  ceasing. 

Among  the  many  utterances  of  the  Apos¬ 
tle  Paul  regarding  prayer  we  find  the  re¬ 
quest,  “Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  that 
you  strive  together  in  your  prayers  to  God 
for  me,”  and  also  the  statement:  “Ye  also 
helping  together  on  our  behalf  by  your  sup¬ 
plication  that  for  the  gift  bestowed  upon  us 
by  the  means  of  many,  thanks  may  be  given 
by  many  persons  on  our  behalf.”  He  asks 
his  hearers  to  pray  that  a  door  may  be 
opened  for  the  Word;  that  he  may  make 
the  Word  manifest;  that  he  may  speak  as 


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he  ought  to  speak;  that  utterance  may  be 
given  to  him  in  opening  his  mouth  so  as  to 
make  known  with  boldness  the  mystery  of 
the  Gospel;  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord 
might  run  and  be  glorified;  and  that  those 
who  proclaimed  it  might  be  delivered  from 
unreasonable  and  evil  men,  for  not  all  have 
faith. 

Neither  human  nature  nor  conditions  in 
non-Christian  lands  have  changed  since  the 
days  of  the  Apostle.  The  heart  of  man  re¬ 
mains  the  same  and  the  long  black  catalogue 
of  sins  in  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  is 
just  as  true  to  life  in  India,  China  and  Af¬ 
rica  to-day  as  it  was  when  penned  by  the 
Apostle.  These  things  being  so,  like  him 
we  call  for  definite,  individual  and  congre¬ 
gational  petition  on  our  behalf  that  we  may 
be  kept,  sustained  and  guided,  emboldened, 
made  vocal  and  effective  by  the  power  of 
God. 

THE  NEEDS  OF  THE  MISSIONARIES 

Perhaps  all  too  little  attention  hitherto 
has  been  given  to  the  condition  of  the  world 
into  which  the  missionary  is  sent.  Few  who 
have  not  seen  it  can  realize  the  denseness  of 
the  ignorance,  the  darkness,  the  superstition 
and  bondage,  the  appalling  sin  and  wicked¬ 
ness  into  the  midst  of  which  the  missionary 


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must  go.  Many  people  imagine  that  the 
missionary  should  be  constantly  on  the 
mountain-top  of  Christian  experience.  They 
forget  how  many  things  there  are  to  keep 
him  in  the  valley.  He  is  in  the  midst  of  a 
horror  of  great  darkness,  oftentimes  alone 
among  a  people  who  know  not  God  and  are 
given  over  to  every  manner  of  evil.  He  is 
thrust  suddenly  from  a  life  such  as  he  has 
known  from  his  infancy,  with  Christian 
home,  the  influences  of  church,  Sunday- 
school,  various  societies,  the  atmosphere  of 
a  Christian  college  and  theological  semi¬ 
nary,  helpful  companionship  and  ministries 
— from  all  this  into  the  very  heart  and  cen¬ 
ter  of  a  religious  and  social  condition  where 
he  lacks  every  one  of  these  things. 

From  the  day  he  arrives  on  his  field  the 
fight  begins — the  fight  to  maintain  his  char¬ 
acter,  his  consecration  and  his  enthusiasm. 
He  has  not  to  wrestle  against  flesh  and 
blood,  but  against  principalities,  against  the 
powers,  against  the  world  rulers  of  this 
darkness,  against  spiritual  hosts  of  wick¬ 
edness  ;  and  they  become  very  real  when  one 
is  cut  off  from  all  the  aid  and  fellowship 
to  which  he  has  been  accustomed  in  the 
home  land.  One  has  to  pray  continually 
that  his  eyes  may  not  become  accustomed  to 


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the  sights  which  he  daily  must  behold,  and 
that  his  ears  become  not  familiar  with  the 
sounds  which  he  hears  almost  continuously; 
that  his  heart  may  not  become  hardened  by 
the  unresponsiveness  of  the  people  to  whom 
he  ministers,  and  that  constantly  his  soul 
may  be  kept  in  health,  that  it  droop  not  nor 
faint  in  the  midst  of  the  spiritual  miasma 
all  round  about  him.  He  needs  to  be  clad 
in  the  whole  armor  of  God  that  he  may  be 
able  to  withstand  in  the  midst  of  evil,  and 
having  done  all,  to  stand — to  stand  having 
loins  girt  with  truth,  to  stand  having  on  the 
breastplate  of  righteousness,  to  stand  being 
shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace,  to  stand  with  a  shield  of  faith  with 
which  to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the 
evil  one,  to  stand  with  the  helmet  of  sal¬ 
vation  on,  bearing  the  sword  of  the  Spirit 
which  is  the  Word  of  God,  to  stand  with  all 
prayer  and  supplication,  praying  at  all  sea¬ 
sons  in  the  Spirit  and  watching  thereunto 
in  all  perseverance  and  supplication  for  all 
the  saints. 

If  those  who  send  the  missionaries  forth 
more  fully  realized  the  nature  of  the  battle 
to  which  they  go  none  would  ever  suppose 
that  his  Christian  duty  were  done  when  he 
contributed  for  the  outfit,  the  passage  money 


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and  the  salary  necessary  for  sending  the 
ambassador  abroad  and  maintaining  him 
upon  the  field.  The  real  support  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  and  the  whole  missionary  enterprise 
calls  for  something  even  more  valuable  than 
money — sympathy,  desire,  heart  burden, — 
finding  their  expression  in  intercessory  pray¬ 
er. 

THE  PRAYER  THAT  COSTS. 

It  costs  to  pray.  It  costs  more  to  pray 
than  to  do  anything  else  that  can  be  done, 
if  one  prays  in  the  Spirit  and  walks — fol¬ 
lows — in  the  Spirit.  He  was  pastor  in  a 
small  church  when  he  first  became  interest¬ 
ed  in  missions.  One  Sunday  morning  he 
was  about  to  preach  from  the  text,  “Ex¬ 
cept  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die  it  abideth  alone,  but  if  it  die  it 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit.’ ’  In  the  prayer 
which  preceded  the  sermon  he  prayed  for 
the  extension  of  Christ’s  kingdom  in  far¬ 
away  lands,  and  asked  the  Lord  if  it  would 
please  him  to  honor  the  little  church  by 
choosing  and  sending  forth  someone  of  its 
members  as  a  messenger  to  the  lost,  and  as 
he  prayed  the  answer  seemed  to  come  in 
the  shape  of  a  question:  “Why  should  you 
not  go?”  And  go  he  felt  he  must,  and  go 
he  did.  But  God  was  answering  more  large- 


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ly  even  than  sending  him,  for  he  spoke  to 
another  that  same  day,  and  instead  of  one 
for  whom  he  prayed  two  were  given.  And 
so  it  ever  is,  “more  exceeding  abundantly 
than  we  are  able  to  ask  or  to  think/  ’ 

Workers  do  not  come  apart  from  pray¬ 
er.  They  come  in  answer  to  it,  being  called 
of  God  and  set  apart  by  him  for  this  service. 
Christ  has  given  us  the  needful  directions: 
“Pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he 
thrust  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest.”  Does 
he  not  know  that  laborers  are  needed? 
Why,  then,  does  he  not  thrust  them  forth 
apart  from  prayer?  As  stated  before, 
Christ  enunciated  no  theory  concerning 
prayer;  it  was  simply  a  fact  of  life  to  him. 
He  says,  Pray  that  laborers  may  be  thrust 
forth.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  apart  from 
prayer  they  will  not  be  given,  and  that  with 
prayer  and  in  answer  to  it  they  will  abun¬ 
dantly  be  thrust  forth.  The  necessary  thing 
in  this  whole  missionary  enterprise  is  a  real¬ 
ization  of  partnership.  We  are  heirs  of 
God  and  joint  heirs  with  Jesus  Christ;  we 
are  laborers  together  with  God ;  we  are 
sharers  with  Christ  in  all  that  pertains  to 
his  life,  his  plans  and  his  activity  in  the 
world.  His  anxiety  for  the  race,  his  tra¬ 
vail  of  soul  that  it  might  be  saved,  his  vi- 


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carious  sacrificial  ministry  must  become 
ours.  The  needs  of  the  lost — the  unevan¬ 
gelized — become  our  own.  Like  the  Ca- 
naanitish  woman  whose  daugther  was  sick, 
we  say,  “Lord,  have  mercy  on  me,”  as 
though  the  sin  and  sickness  and  sorrow  of 
the  world  were  in  very  truth  our  own.  It 
was  through  eyes  like  these  that  Christ  saw 
the  multitudes  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd, 
and  seeing  them,  his  heart  was  moved  and 
he  had  compassion.  It  will  not  be  until  we, 
his  followers,  are  thus  vicariously  joined 
to  him  that  we  shall  be  in  the  world  as  he 
was,  seeing  as  he  saw,  feeling  as  he  felt, 
and  showing  compassion  as  he  did.  Great 
are  those  words  of  the  late  A.  J.  Gordon 
and  worthy  to  be  pondered:  “I  have  long 
since  ceased  to  pray,  ‘Lord  Jesus,  have  com¬ 
passion  upon  a  lost  world.’  I  remember  the 
day  and  the  hour  when  I  seemed  to  hear  the 
Lord  rebuking  me  for  making  such  a  pray¬ 
er.  He  seemed  to  say  to  me:  ‘I  have  had 
compassion  upon  a  lost  world,  and  now  it 
is  time  for  you  to  have  compassion;  I  have 
given  my  heart,  now  give  your  heart.’  ”  If 
we  do  this  it  is  bound  to  cost.  Salvation 
always  costs;  it  cost  the  Son  of  God  his 
life.  The  price  of  redemption  is  blood — 
the  blood  of  Christ — and  if  we  are  partners 


10 


with  him  we  shall  not  escape,  or  desire  to 
escape,  whatever  of  sacrifice  his  service  may 
entail. 

THE  PRAYER  THAT  COUNTS. 

It  counts  to  pray.  In  some  way  not  yet 
fully  understood  prayer  releases  omnipotent 
forces.  A  hundred  years  ago  very  little  of 
the  non-Christian  world  could  be  entered 
by  the  messengers  of  the  CrossL  To-day 
almost  all  lands  are  open  to  them.  Multi¬ 
tudes  of  men  and  women  are  still  alive  who 
remember  the  missionary  concerts  in  which 
prayer  was  regularly  made  that  God  would 
open  the  fast-closed  doors  of  the  heathen 
world.  That  he  answered  is  now  apparent 
to  all.  Prayer  is  the  cure  for  spiritual  lean¬ 
ness,  both  in  the  individual  and  in  the 
Church.  In  response  to  prayer  mighty  re¬ 
vivals  break  forth.  Some  one,  or  some  com¬ 
pany  of  believers,  becomes  burdened  in  soul 
for  the  welfare  of  others  and  prays.  The 
result  is  ofttimes  measured  by  hundreds  of 
conversions  and  by  a  complete  revolution 
of  the  social  and  spiritual  life  of  the  com¬ 
munity.  Prayer  is  the  cure  for  lack  of 
workers  both  for  the  home  and  the  foreign 
fields.  Some  years  ago  in  Iowa  there  were 
scores  of  Baptist  churches  which  were  pas¬ 
torless.  The  leaders  of  the  denomination 


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had  diligently  sought  for  a  supply  sufficient 
to  occupy  these  vacant  places,  but  without 
success.  In  a  convention  at  Webster  City 
this  critical  condition  was  brought  before 
the  annual  assembly  of  the  denomination 
and  considerable  discussion  was  engaged  in. 
Finally  someone  arose  and  suggested  that 
all  business  be  put  aside  and  that  the  con¬ 
vention  betake  itself  to  prayer,  asking  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  for  the  needed  laborers. 
This  was  done,  and  not  long  afterward  in 
the  denominational  college  at  Des  Moines, 
where  hitherto  not  one  candidate  for  the 
ministry  was  studying,  forty-one  men  were 
enrolled  who  definitely  had  the  ministry  at 
home  of  mission  service  abroad  in  view. 
Three  came  forth  from  one  church  in  the 
space  of  a  single  year,  and  twenty  of  the 
forty-one  have  contributed  up  to  the  pres¬ 
ent  day  an  aggregate  of  378  years  in  active 
service !  It  counts  to  pray. 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  face  to  face  with 
a  world-wide  opportunity.  Never  before 
have  the  doors  been  flung  so  widely  open, 
and  never  before  has  the  voice  of  need  been 
so  strong  and  insistent.  The  unevangelized 
peoples  call  from  out  the  darkness,  “Come 
over  and  help  us.”  We  look  at  ourselves, 
at  our  churches,  at  our  missionary  organiza- 


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tions,  yet,  splendid  as  these  may  be,  we  cry 
out,  “Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?” 
The  dimension  of  the  task  are  overwhelm¬ 
ing,  and  we  are  so  poorly  equipped  in  our¬ 
selves — there  is  so  much  to  do  and  so  few 
to  do  it,  so  little  with  which  to  do  the  so- 
much  that  waits  to  be  done.  But  listen! 
God  calls.  He  challenges,  saying,  “Prove 
me,  prove  me  now  herewith,  and  see  if  I 
will  not  pour  you  out  a  blessing  so  that 
there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  con¬ 
tain  it.”  He  says  to  his  people:  “The 
weapons  of  your  warfare  are  not  carnal,  but 
spiritual.  Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give.  The 
silver  and  the  gold  are  mine,  and  the  cattle 
upon  a  thousand  hills.  All  souls  are  mine 
and  I  can  turn  the  hearts  of  men  whither¬ 
soever  I  will,  even  as  I  turn  the  rivers  of 
water.  I  have  resources  at  my  command, 
the  fullness  of  which  you  little  know.  Ask 
of  me,  prove  me  now  herewith  and  see;  en¬ 
ter  into  partenership  with  me  in  this  world¬ 
wide  enterprise ;  get  my  view,  adopt  my 
plans,  desire  my  aim,  follow  my  methods; 
ask,  seek,  knock — prove  me  now  and  see.” 

AN  ADEQUATE  PROGRAM  OF  PRAYER. 

Here,  then  is  the  solution.  It  is  found 
in  an  adequate  program  of  prayer  for  mis¬ 
sions — the  praying  with  new  understanding, 


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desire  and  sympathy  of  the  old  prayer,  ‘ 1  Thy 
kingdom  come.”  Prayer  has  availed  to  open 
the  closed  doors  of  the  nations.  Prayer  will 
avail  to  bring  forth  the  needed  supply  of 
workers  and  resources  in  order  that  the 
world’s  need  may  be  met.  Let  us  not  seek 
for  new  methods,  but  rather  fall  back  on 
the  primary  one,  the  method  of  Jesus  which 
was  practiced  and  enjoined  by  himself. 
Why  not  ask?  Why  not  pray  for  laborers? 
Why  not  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts? 
Why  not  ask  that  the  young  and  talented 
in  our  churches  be  thrust  forth  for  the  min¬ 
istry  of  God?  There  is  dearth  of  suitable 
material  for  both  home  and  foreign  service. 
Why  not  ask  for  a  supply  commensurate 
with  the  need?  Why  be  content  with  little 
when  we  may  have  much?  Let  us  pray  our 
young  people  out  into  a  life  of  wider  use¬ 
fulness,  deeper  consecration  and  fuller  min¬ 
istry  than  they  ever  could  find  for  them¬ 
selves.  Let  us  pray  for  the  missionaries 
already  gone  forth  that  they  may  be  sus¬ 
tained,  empowered  and  made  effective.  Why 
not  adopt  some  one  personally  as  your 
missionary?  Correspond  with  him,  learn 
all  about  his  field,  its  needs,  its  problems,  its 
trials,  its  progress,  its  blessings;  enter  into 
partnership  with  God  for  that  missionary 


14 


and  that  field  and  bear  them  upon  your  heart 
and  your  prayers  continually.  Your  own 
;oul  will  be  enriched  and  blessed  and  your 
earnest,  effectual  prayer  will  avail  much  in 
strengthening  the  work,  in  cheering  the 
worker  and  bringing  to  the  field  resources 
which  without  prayer  would  never  be  re¬ 
leased.  In  no  formal  way  does  the  missionary 
who  pens  these  lines  take  up  the  apostolic 
exhortation  and  say,  ‘‘Brethren,  pray  for 
us.”  We  need  your  prayers.  We  cannot 
get  on  without  them.  This  whole  enterprise 
which  was  bom,  cradled  and  nourished  in 
prayer  must  be  sustained  now  and  go  for¬ 
ward  by  the  same  method.  We  shall  succeed 
only  as  we  pray  well.  Plus  knowledge,  plus 
giving,  plus  sending,  plus  going,  plus  labor¬ 
ers  abundant,  plus  all  else  must  be  prayer. 
“Brethren,  pray  for  us.”  Let  us  pray. 

0,  Lord  of  the  harvest,  who  hast  hidden  us 
pray,  we  come  to  thee  humbly  confessing  our 
sins,  our  lack  of  faith ,  our  sluggish  zeal,  our 
failure  to  apprehend  and  follow  thy  command. 
We  beseech  thee  to  grant  us  pardon  and  to 
make  us  what  we  ought  to  be — companions 
of  Christ,  sharers  with  him  in  the  burden  and 
travail  of  redeeming  a  lost  world.  We  look  on 
the  fields  and  behold  them  already  white  for 
the  harvest.  We  ask  thee  to  thrust  forth  the 


15 


needed  laborers;  to  endue  them  and  all  thy 
servants  with  grace  and  plenteous  power. 
Cheer  and  sustain  them  in  their  ministry.  Be 
pleased  to  bless  us — individuals ,  families  and 
churches.  Fill  our  hearts  with  a  new  and 
deeper  love  for  thee,  and  aid  us  to  a  fuller 
consecration  than  hitherto  we  have  known. 
Enlarge  us  in  faith,  in  devotion,  in  fellowship 
with  thee  and  all  thine,  and  help  us  that  we 
withhold  not  aught — ourselves,  our  children, 
our  substance  —  from  thee  or  thy  service. 
Hasten  the  proclamation  of  thy  Word  to  every 
creature  and  speedily  complete  thy  work.  So 
may  thy  kingdom  come  and  thy  will  be  done 
on  earth  even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven ,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour.  Amen. 


16 


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hundred,  prepaid. 


Catalogue  of  Publications 
on  request 


Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement 
1  Madison  Ave.,  New  York 


